NEWS
An open online course on plagiarism is now available to everyone on the library's website. The course is the result of a collaboration between four colleagues at Umeå University.
The course was recently released as an open learning resource for everyone to use. The idea behind the course is to learn what plagiarism is and how to avoid it, while also learning how to reference other people's texts correctly.
The idea came from lecturer and ICT coach Satish Strömberg at Umeå University, and he contacted the library, which had previously produced several open learning resources in the same format. He saw the need for students to not only receive information from their teachers about plagiarism, but also to practice avoiding plagiarism.
At Umeå University Library, Anna-Karin Åsander, librarian, has developed other similar online courses, and together with Elena Lindholm, senior lecturer in Spanish, Linda Lundmark, university lawyer, and Satish Strömberg, work on the online course began. The idea is that both teachers and students can complete the course and that it will lead to fewer cases of plagiarism at the university. The course has been developed in both a Swedish and an English version. For teachers at Umeå University, there is a version that can be imported into the learning platform Canvas, after the teacher has completed the programme.
Umeå University Library already offers additional open online courses in information retrieval and Creative Commons licences in scientific publishing.
– Developing open learning resources is an investment in the future of education, where access to high-quality content and resources creates a more equal and connected academic world, says Kristoffer Lindell, Head of the Department of Scholarly Communication, Umeå University Library.
– This not only enables improved access and sharing of knowledge worldwide, but also promotes collaboration, pedagogical innovation and creativity by encouraging the development of new learning methods and materials. In this way, open educational resources contribute to shaping a more inclusive and adaptive educational environment for future generations, concludes Kristoffer Lindell.
